


Give and Take

by Frankensteins_Monster



Series: And They Kneeled - Loki, Tyrant and Ruler of Earth [1]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, BAMF Loki (Marvel), BAMF Stephen Strange, Bottom Loki (Marvel), But also lots of happy moments, But they still love each other, Cat Loki (Marvel), Cuddles, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Drama, Everyone Has Issues, F/M, Falling In Love, Female Loki (Marvel), Fluff, Kamar-Taj (Marvel), Kisses, Loki & Thor Friendship (Marvel), Loki (Marvel) Has Issues, Lokitty, M/M, Magic, Male Loki (Marvel), Medical Trauma, Mild Smut, Moral Relativism, Paranoia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Trauma, Separation Anxiety, Shapeshifter Loki (Marvel), Shit will go down, Strange Loki, Top Stephen Strange, Trauma, Trust Issues, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:47:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27019039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frankensteins_Monster/pseuds/Frankensteins_Monster
Summary: In a world where Loki’s attempt to take over New York was successful, he destroyed the Avengers and went on to take over the world. The only force who continued to fight against him was Thor, who fuelled by his anger at Loki’s great betrayal, would stop at nothing to destroy the empire his brother had created.Dr Stephen Strange’s search for a cure for his broken hands did not lead him to an order of the mystical arts. Instead it led him to Loki, who proposed they make a deal in exchange for the cure.
Relationships: Loki/Stephen Strange
Series: And They Kneeled - Loki, Tyrant and Ruler of Earth [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2058429
Comments: 17
Kudos: 30





	1. The Search for a Cure

**Author's Note:**

> Because events integral to the origin stories and character arcs of all of these characters played out so differently, they’re all going to be a little ooc (out of character). Especially Dr Strange. But it’s the kind of ooc that should make sense within the new context of this alternate universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: I added a little more to the first chapter. I felt it was necessary in order to understand the mindset and motivations of this particular version of Dr Strange. I think that without it the story seemed a little rushed. Please bear with me as I may add and edit further as long as this fic is in progress.

Dr Stephen Strange was at the end of his rope. He had trashed his life, destroyed his career, and every one of his relationships. He had spent almost all of his money trying to recover the one and only thing he really cared about. And he couldn’t stop caring about it, no matter how hard he tried, no matter what anyone told him. Since the day of the car crash, he had obsessed over his hands, which were beyond repair.

Beyond repair. He wanted to laugh when he received the news, a sad, cold, ironic kind of laugh. To him, almost nothing had been beyond repair. He was a master surgeon.

Now… he was nothing. He was nobody. He was… broken.

As broken as his hands, as broken as his future. He felt lost and purposeless. He felt empty.

He needed to fix himself. He needed to put himself back together. He would do anything, whatever it takes. He just… needed something to cling to. Whether that be hope… or if it was something else that could make him whole again. To give him a purpose again.

It had been too many years of hopelessness, already.

Dr Strange had tried many things to get back the use of his hands. Appointments with the world’s top specialists and microsurgeons, he’d even allowed himself to be operated on a number of times, but it had seemed to make no difference. He’d been to twenty-seven different countries over a period of three years searching for a miracle.

And now he was searching for a different kind of miracle. He was going to attend one of the grand banquets/parties held by Loki, ruler of Earth. Loki, as it turned out, was a god. And Loki was his last hope.

Dr Strange had to be honest not given the matter of Earth’s new ruler much thought when it had first happened. So Earth was conquered, it was bound to happen eventually. That the guy was some sort of magical god had peaked both his curiosity and his scepticism in fairly equal measure, but he quickly had to accept what Loki was fairly fond of publicly demonstrating, which was his utter inhumanity. He had supposed that if he simply categorized humans as the ordinary, and thusly grounded by the rules of logic and common sense, and categorized Loki as the extraordinary, seemingly able to make up his own rules as he went along, then he could bring himself to accept it.

It was something he wasn’t truly all that interested in considering, until it had occurred to him that an audience with Loki could potentially be the only way to fix his hands. This was once he had realized that his hands were so utterly broken that he would need to look outside of the laws of nature, perhaps even the laws of common sense, for a chance at fixing them.

Now getting an invitation to the upcoming banquet, that was easy. Stephen was still a member of high-society in New-York, which was where Loki had chosen to build his palace and his headquarters. But getting a chance to actually make the request of Loki… that was another matter entirely. Which was why Stephen Strange was leaning against the side of a large potted plant, both alone and deep in thought.

“You don’t get many plants like this in New York City.”

Dr Strange lifted his head in surprise to see Loki standing in front of him, making small talk. Well that was easy.

Stephen’s eyes widened in surprise, and he wondered if Loki had teleported, or if he’d been so deep in thought that he hadn’t seen him coming.

“I was wondering what you were doing, moping here all alone.” Loki said, with a winning smile. “Not enjoying my party?”

Strange smiled. “It is quite the party. But I actually came here tonight on more serious business. I came here tonight to talk to you.”

“Serious business?” Loki asked, conjuring a knife from the air and pressing it quickly against Stephen’s throat. “I do hope this serious business you speak of isn’t an attempt to threaten me. Or anything equally as boring.” Stephen glanced around the party, where guests seemed completely oblivious to the situation. That was except for one young woman, who briefly glanced over at him and then hurried to look away.

Dr Strange laughed with a genuine yet miserable mirth. “Threaten you? How could I possibly threaten you?”

He held out his scarred and shaking hands. “See? I came here to ask if you could fix my hands. To see if you were capable of such a task.” Dr Strange chose his words quite deliberately. He questioned Loki’s ability even though he had no doubts that Loki could indeed do as he had requested. He did this because he had a hunch Loki would more interested in a challenge than an appeal for help.

Loki smiled again, but this time it was pinched and angry.

“Of course I’m able to fix them. That’s nothing more than simple child’s play.” He hissed.

He turned around and clapped. “Party’s over!” He called out, the sound of his voice echoing throughout the entire room. The partygoers hesitated somewhat, for the night was still very young. “Everybody out!” Loki practically screamed, and the guests began to scramble towards the exits.

Stephen’s stomach churned nervously. Had he made a mistake in provoking a god?

Loki turned back to Stephen.

“I will heal your hands under one condition… that you agree to serve me.”

“Serve you? Serve you how? I’m a surgeon you know.” Dr Strange said somewhat indignantly.

Loki leaned forwards to whisper in his ear. “Well you’re clearly not a surgeon anymore, and you can never be again unless I choose to help you.”

Loki leaned back again with a smile creeping across his face.

“This is a job that requires fine hands.”

He raised an eyebrow at Dr Strange’s concerned expression, and then lifted his head back in a burst of wild laughter. “No! No. Not that. Although I do rather love your dirty mind, jumping straight to that conclusion. No, something else that requires fine hands, the practise of magic.”

“Magic?” Dr Strange asked. “I’m a human being, I can’t do magic.”

“My! Human education must really be lacking, if even one so sharp minded as you believes that.” Loki teased. “What if I showed you exactly how wrong you were?”

“You can’t show me that unless you fix my hands.” Dr Strange steered the topic back to what he really cared about.

“But I won’t fix your hands, unless you agree to serve me.”

“For how long?” Dr Strange asked.

Loki grabbed Strange’s hands and squeezed them tightly in his own. Strange winced. “Forever. You must promise that you will serve me forever.”

Strange looked nervously into Loki’s eyes. There was madness there, but also great intelligence. He did not trust Loki. But he did not need to trust Loki, that was not a part of their deal. He only needed to serve Loki. He swallowed. He did not like debasing himself… but Loki had all the leverage here.

“If you truly do heal my hands, perfectly and completely… Then in that case, and that case only… I do promise to serve you forever.”

He looked into Loki’s eyes and Loki mouthed his own name. “Loki.” Dr Strange added.

“Now introduce yourself.” Loki commanded.

“Dr Strange. Dr Stephen Strange.”

Loki smiled and squeezed his hands in a crushing grip. Strange struggled not to cry out, and felt sweat beading instantly across his forehead as everything that made up his hands was rearranged. He felt bones re-breaking and healing at a rapid pace, tendons and nerves regrowing, reconnecting. Loki loosened his grip again, and Strange knew the terribly painful process was almost over.

Finally, Loki let go. Dr Strange held his hands in front of him, cautiously, and began slowly flexing his fingers one by one.

“They work…” Dr Strange whispered, to himself rather than to Loki. “And they don’t… hurt anymore.” He lifted his head to show his silly grin. “They don’t-“

Loki leaned forwards and took one of Strange’s hands, intertwining their fingers. Dr Strange looked up at him as if he’d forgotten he was there. “You remember our deal, right? These hands of yours belong to me now.”

Dr Strange looked hard at Loki, steeled his jaw, and then bowed his head in respect and left it lowered.

“It’s so nice to see a man who knows his place.” Loki crowed, moving towards Strange and slipping one hand across his chin to lift his head.

“I will make you into something special. Not quite my equal… but my servant… my loyal guard… my Sorcerer Supreme. Second to no one but me.”

All at once Strange was flooded with these strange feelings. Immense gratitude towards his… saviour. But at the same time he felt tremendous inferiority. All at once that inferiority was eating away at him, but for the second time in his life he was helpless to stop it. Helpless, but for the simple exception of the whims of Loki.

Loki. At this one moment, he hated him, he desired him, he was jealous of him and he was filled with this immense curiosity. All of it at once.

“Thank you, Loki.” He said.

Loki stiffened slightly. “Is that how you address your master?”

Strange smiled. He could read Loki like a book. He leaned forwards and picked a stray hair from Loki’s extravagant clothes. “Of course it is, Master.” He emphasised the last word.

He saw Loki’s lips part slightly, and his gaze soften. Dr Strange couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly. He didn’t actually mean to turn him on. Just to throw him off his guard a little.

“I forgot to mention…” Loki said. “But for ordinary humans to perform magic, well, there are a number of methods. But to do so without magical artefacts requires natural magical abilities. And I don’t have any magical artefacts just lying around for you to use.”

“Then how am I supposed to do what you’ve asked me to do?”

“You can borrow magic, from someone who happens to have an abundance of it.”

“And how would I do that?” Dr Strange asked.

“Like this…” Loki said. He leaned in and kissed Dr Strange deeply.

Strange was surprised to find Loki’s tongue in his mouth, but he was even more surprised when he felt strangely rejuvenated by this. Younger even, it was as if he was twenty-five again. It felt like life itself was flowing into him and for that reason alone he couldn’t bring himself to stop.

He reciprocated the kiss, only breaking from it when he felt that he had received all that he was able to.

“So that was magic…” Strange said, in a total daze.

Loki laughed gently. “It is rather addictive for a mortal being, isn’t it?”

“Not… particularly.”

“Oh! Dr Strange. You’re a rather bad liar. You’re a pretty decent kisser though.”

Stephen put a hand to his head as the room around him began to spin.

Loki caught him as he started to collapse.

“I guess that was a little much for a human, all at once. Strange felt himself being lowered onto a bed. “I suppose you’ll need to rest for a while and… adjust.”

Dr Strange blinked once and Loki disappeared, and then he felt himself slip away into a deep sleep.


	2. Waking Up

Stephen woke up to the extremely unpleasant sensation of someone pushing up his eyelids.

“Mnhh!” He protested, still half-asleep. He couldn’t remember the last time he had slept so deeply.

“Good! You’re awake!” He heard Loki exclaim, and slowly the two blurry figures he was looking at converged to form one Loki. “I was terribly, terribly bored.”

Strange blinked a few times. “So… that deal we made… is my purpose here mostly to keep you from being bored?”

Loki frowned. “Your purpose here is to serve me. That means you’ll do whatever I want you to do.”

Dr Strange sat up.

“So how does it feel to be part god?” Loki asked.

“Part god?” Dr Strange asked.

“Well, you’re not entirely mortal anymore, which means you’re not entirely human anymore. Although you’re going to need to recharge every so often because when you run out of my magic you’re just going to go right back to being a plain old human being again, and that’s so boring!”

“So now I can use magic? But how do I…”

“Let me show you an example.” Loki said, and conjured a knife in his palm. “You picture the object, and simply will it into being…” He vanished the knife and grabbed Strange’s palm. He traced a circle with his finger onto Stephen’s skin. “…in the space right here.”

Stephen tried to picture the knife that Loki conjured, but failed. And then an image of a scalpel popped into his head, and before he knew it he was holding one.

“Very good.” Loki breathed, running his fingers along the handle of the summoned scalpel. “Although the way that this weapon seems built for precision over destructive power, I doubt it would hold up particularly well in combat.”

“Combat?” Strange asked in alarm. “Now hold on a minute, I agreed to serve you, but I never agreed to get into any fights!”

“You already agreed that you’ll do whatever I ask of you. You don’t have a choice.” Loki spat.

“Go easy on me, Green-eyes.” Strange said, putting a hand on Loki’s shoulder.

Loki’s gaze softened again. “It’s just… I need you to help me fight off my brother.”

“Your brother?” Strange asked.

“When I took over earth, The Avengers didn’t pose all that much of a threat. I took them all out, one by one. But my brother, Thor… it seems he took it all rather personally. Apparently Asgard is simply not enough for him, he must put his stake in my claims too.”

“That’s… the guy with the hammer, right?” Strange asked.

Loki chuckled softly. “Yeah, that’s it. The guy with hammer. He was always so proud of that darn hammer.”

“Look, I’m gonna be honest. I don’t think I can fight that guy. Physically, I mean.” Strange said.

Loki laughed again, it was warm and inviting. “Well even I couldn’t fight him physically, so I would never have expected that of you. But you have magic now, and the powers of a god. Once you get some practice in you should be able to take him on no problem!”

“Ok… Well I still don’t want to fight your brother.”

Loki’s expression turned cold. “Are you refusing an order?”

“What if I am?” Strange breathed nervously.

Loki pushed Strange down onto the bed, straddled him, then conjured a knife and stabbed it into the pillow next to Strange’s head. He leaned down and whispered into his ear. “If I don’t need you I will kill you.”

He sat back up. “So start thinking of how you’re going to make yourself useful.” The knife disappeared into thin air.

“Show me something else.” Strange said, after a moment of stunned silence. His mind was scrambling to do as it was told, to do something useful.

“What?” Loki asked.

“Show me how to do something else. You’ve already shown me how to create small weapons from thin air, so show me how to do something else.”

Loki smiled. “Ok.”

He tossed his jet black hair from side to side and it lengthened in an instant from its usual shoulder length until it was streaming down Loki’s back. Out of nowhere Loki’s slender masculine form grew curves in certain places, forming the shapes of ample breasts and child-bearing hips, in an instant he was a woman. In an instant he was the most beautiful woman that Strange had ever seen. And this woman was still straddling him.

Strange took a moment to process this, and to gawk at the form of the beautiful woman on top of him. Then he shook his head. “I’m not doing that.”

“No?” She asked. “Well I suppose I haven’t met many people who are as comfortable with shape-shifting as I am. Even on Asgard, it wasn’t all that common.”

“I think it suits you well.” Strange said honestly. “I don’t think it would suit anyone, as well as it would you.”

“I appreciate the flattery.” Loki said. They looked into each other’s eyes for a moment that dragged on forever, and then they both slowly leaned in for a kiss.

Quickly a kiss turned into a passionate make-out session, and soon they both began to remove each other’s clothes.

Dr Strange was certain he was making a huge mistake as he fondled Loki’s breasts and hips, but Loki still held an undeniable magnetism, especially as a woman. He was never the sort of man who was overcome with desire, or who could be swept off his feet by one woman, until that moment. He pushed up into her. She made that face. He had never seen someone make that face, sharp eyes and sharp teeth, the pink of desire, she leaned forwards and whispered in his ear. “You’re not so bad, Strange.”

Stephen left a hickey on her neck.

Eventually, they both finished. They’d kept up a good pace, Strange thought. A really good pace. It looked like they were extremely compatible in this particular arena. Dr Strange didn’t even rush to shower, like he usually did after sex. Instead he felt a strange contentment to simply lie there next to her.

He still didn’t truly understand what Loki really was, or how the god really functioned. But Strange was a curious man, he always wanted to know what he couldn’t, to unravel the secrets of the world and make them bow before him. And as it turns out he’d taken this one to bed with him.

When Dr Strange woke up Loki was still in his arms, however he’d shifted back to his male form. It was a little unusual for Strange, holding a man’s body in this way. Well, he hadn’t kissed a man before Loki either, so it seemed Loki was going to test every limit Stephen felt he had. Stephen smiled when he noticed the hickey he’d left was still on Loki’s neck. He was sure that was a deliberate choice on Loki’s part.

He carefully brushed a stray lock of hair out of the sleeping Loki’s face, before putting his arm back around him. Loki stirred awake, then quickly assumed a shit-eating grin. “You’re so into me.” He teased. “You know I thought you’d make a less serious expression during sex, but somehow it was more serious, like this.“ Loki pulled the most comically serious expression he could muster. Strange grinned, he would never have expected Loki to be so flattering even if it was all true. “And here I thought I could catch you off guard.” Loki moped. “Yet somehow you kept your cool.”

“You almost sound disappointed.” Strange teased back.

“Yeah, I am a little.” Loki exclaimed. “It’s almost as if you actually like me.”

“Do you make a habit out of sleeping with people who don’t like you?” Strange asked.

Loki grinned, although this time he didn’t looked happy. The corners of his mouth were tight, and his eyes weren’t quite as bright as they should be. “Yeah, actually. I do.”

“Even Svadilfari disliked me, and you’d think he’d be glad just for a chance to get out of the stable.”

Stephen choked on the air. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“I was joking.” Loki said. “He wasn’t really cooped up in the stables, he actually spent most of his time outside. Just a little play on words, you know-”

“That’s really not the part that I’m concerned with… please tell me that you’re not talking about a horse!”

Loki paused. “Well, it’s not like I did it for fun.”

“Then why?” Strange was flabbergasted. He was rarely thrown off but he was definitely thrown off by this.

“I needed to take his mind off his work.” Loki explained, as if that explained it.

“Wh… was there really no other way to do that?”

Loki shrugged. As if Strange needed more reminders that Loki wasn’t human.

Oh shit. Strange thought. I’m not human anymore either. He digested that idea for a while.

“Look, Loki…” He eventually said. “I’m going to need some time to adjust, to all of this.”

“To what?” Loki asked, his voice suddenly cold and sharp.

“To having magic powers, to not being fully human, to spending all this time with an actual god. You’re… a little less human than I thought you’d be. And I know I kinda jumped into things headfirst earlier but… I think I was a little carried away and way over my head.”

“See, now you’re being boring.” Loki said, slipping out of bed and standing completely naked in front of Strange. “And to think I thought you might be different. No. You’re just like everyone else. Man or woman, mortal or immortal. Every single one of you is a complete and utter bore.”  
Stephen stood up and moved to hold Loki’s chin, in a sort of comforting gesture. Loki smacked his hand aside with a lot of force. Stephen’s hand was smarting. So he reached out and grabbed Loki’s hands instead. “I see what this is.” Strange said smarmily.

“I should take back the power I gave you and kill you swiftly.” Loki sneered.

Stephen sighed. “Just give me a chance, Green-eyes.”

Those green eyes widened to form an expression of utter innocent naiveté.

Strange smiled because he could tell that Loki didn’t know what was happening next, and it took some of the intimidation out of conversing with a god.

“All I’m saying is that you’ve got to slow things down a little. Yesterday I was an out of work surgeon with broken hands. Now not only am I part god, but I’m also your servant, your student in magic, and your lover.”

“My lover?” Loki said questioningly.

Strange chuckled softly. “I’m not the kind of man who can ever just let anything go. But we do need to slow this down, alright, or my head will explode.”

“And you keep saying I have to fight your brother. I have never been in a fight, Loki. Do I look like I’ve been in a fight before? I’m really not keen to go up against a gladiator right now!”

“Thor’s no gladiator!” Loki chortled, as if it were conjuring up the most hilarious image in the world.

“And well, I didn’t want you to fight him right this moment!” Loki exclaimed. “He’d turn you into a smear on the sidewalk, and that would be no fun at all. It’s just I’ve been avoiding a confrontation with him for a good long while now, and I don’t know how long I can just keep dodging his attacks. And I can’t fight him. I just can’t fight him, Strange. I’ll lose everything.”

Loki clung tightly to Strange, and Strange put an arm around him.

“I can either face him head on and lose, forfeiting my current position as the ruler of Earth… or I can pull another trick and kill him, because unless I kill him he will just keep on going and keep on going until he destroys everything I’ve worked so hard to build. I’m either going to lose the one place in the universe I actually belong, or kill my brother with my own two hands.”

“Second son problems.” Loki explained. Stephen almost laughed at the differences in the problems of a second son between the worlds they lived in, but wisely bit his tongue. He was just a little bit hysterical after his roller-coaster of a day. “The only bright side is if I did kill my brother, I might get Asgard too, but I just know those bastards would all just fight me on it. Thor was always the favourite.”

Loki went quiet for a moment. “And I don’t really want to kill him either, not really.”

Strange stood there with his arms around Loki. What Loki had just said, above all else, was very human. All of a sudden, he felt grounded. He felt like he was suddenly standing on dry land, as opposed to on the ever shifting current of utter incomprehension he’d been on for the past while.

And he found himself suggesting something he would never have found himself suggesting before, just for the base humanity of it. He stood back and reached out for Loki’s left hand. He kissed it. “Want to dance with me?” He asked, just for the heck of it.

Loki was surprised, but he also seemed quite pleased. “Sure. Why not? What kind of dance?”

Strange thought back to the only time he’d ever danced, at his school’s prom, which now felt like a million years ago. But he’d learned to waltz, everyone had. The school had insisted upon it.

“How about a waltz?” He suggested.

“So you meant it when you said you intended to take it slow. No dirty dancing?” Loki teased. “We are naked after all.”

Strange looked down and chuckled. “You know, I almost forgot.”

“A waltz it is then.” Loki grinned, and put one arm around Stephen’s waist.

“You’re leading?” Strange asked facetiously, as they began to slow dance to their own rhythm.

“I always lead.” Loki said.

Strange leaned forward and kissed Loki gently, then pulled away.

Loki stepped back. He glared and bared his teeth with brilliantly flushed cheeks. “You… bastard!”

“Oops.” Strange said dryly. “Guess I just made you into a liar.”

Strange stepped forwards and caught Loki around the waist, and although Loki pouted he went along with it as they started dancing again with Strange in the lead.

They kept dancing like that until Stephen’s stomach groaned and Loki cracked up with laughter.

“Because your stomach’s never made a sound?” Strange teased.

“No, actually. It hasn’t.” Loki retorted and rolled his eyes. “I’m a god, remember.”

He squeezed Strange’s shoulder. “Come on, get dressed and we’ll go get something to eat.”


	3. A Meal with a god

Stephen turned around to see clothes all laid out on the bed. They were not his clothes. He wasn’t altogether sure that they would suit him. He supposed that was just the style in Asgard, leather and armour in unsubtle colours and unusual cuts. He supposed he should just be grateful Loki hadn’t given him a helmet with big curly horns on it to match his own. Ceremonial, he supposed it was. Because he couldn’t help but notice Loki hadn’t worn it since the party.

His clothes were all in red, with fine silver armour. And he found they looked alright on him, better than he had expected at the least. Who was he kidding, he could make anything look good. He thought, as he admired himself in the mirror.

He followed Loki to the dining room, where a chef was quickly called to be given orders. Loki ordered them to bring him something that sounded exotic, as in probably not even from earth exotic.

“I can ask for anything at all?” Strange asked. He was so used to picking from a menu that just thinking of a dish on the fly was surprisingly hard.

“Yes.” Loki said. He already sounded bored.

Strange thought for a moment. It was 8:00 already, dinnertime. So he asked for a steak done medium.

“Medium?” Commented Loki, after the chef had left. “You’ll cook it to death.”

Strange drummed his fingers against the gilded surface of the table. “Yeah, I know. But it’s quite hard to enjoy a good rare steak once you’ve cut someone open. At least for me, personally.”

“Really?” Commented Loki. “Personally I think it makes it more enjoyable.” He shrugged and took a sip of wine from a glass that seemingly had appeared from nowhere. “To each their own I guess.”

Stephen felt a cold shiver down his spine. He’d been talking about performing surgery. But Loki… he hoped he didn’t know what Loki was referring to.

“So…” Strange asked. “Are there books on magic that you could loan me? I’m a quick study.”

Loki appeared to think for a moment. “Actually I believe I may have some lying around.” He said and vanished into thin air before materialising back in the dining room with an armful of books, which he deposited carelessly onto the table. Strange felt a little twinge of concern for the welfare of those poor books laying about right next to where they were about to be eating, some of them looked several thousand years old. “Start with those, should be enough for the basics.” Loki said.

Strange thanked Loki, and then quickly gathered up the books and moved them to the far side of the table, far away from any dangers of being spilt upon or splattered.

Once they had both finished their meals, Loki stood up. “This is where I’ll leave you for tonight.” He said. “I’m really very busy after all, got lots to do. The room we just came from is your room, so do whatever you like at your leisure.” And then he just strode off, without waiting for a response from Strange.

Dr Strange thanked the chef for the wonderful steak as it was really very good, took the stack of books back to his room, and started reading through them all quite diligently. They were tough reads, as although they were all in English, they were also not in English exactly as we know it today. Some of them, perhaps, ever. Still, he’d passed medical school, he knew his way around the passive aggressive verbiage of the thoroughly learned asshole, and as such he knew he could quickly learn to navigate this too.

Once he was thoroughly exhausted he made his way to ‘his’ bed, and was surprised when in the dark, he felt a small warm figure push its way into his arms. A cat, he quickly observed as he felt its whiskers on his cheek.

He smiled, he never would have imagined that Loki might like cats. He ran a hand gently down its back. He was never much one for animals, but he rather liked this cat.

When Stephen woke up the next morning, he noticed several things. The first was that there was now a wardrobe in his room, and that wardrobe was filled with clothes, all tailored for him, and all in red and silver. He briefly wondered why all his clothes were in these same colour combinations, especially since Loki himself tended to wear a lot of green and gold. Perhaps it was another Asgardian tradition, one that he didn't yet fully understand.

It was a pity that the only clothes in there that vaguely resembled ‘normal’ clothes were the pyjamas, and he was more of a briefs to bed man himself.

The second thing he noticed was the bookshelf, which also wasn’t there when he went to bed, and was crammed with books. There wasn’t even enough space to file away the books he’d read over last night. How could this much heavy furniture moving take place while he was sleeping, and not even wake him up? He couldn’t help but wonder.

The final thing he noticed when he looked back at the bed, was the cat. He noticed that it was a black cat, which was looking up at him curiously with bright green eyes.

Strange raised one eyebrow at it.

It yawned and looked away, swishing its tail back and forth. Perfectly nonchalant. It may as well have been whistling.

Strange went over to the bed and picked it up. “Hey, do you want some cat food?” He crooned. “I bet you do. I bet you want some cat food.”

The cat started struggling.

“Let’s go to the kitchen and get you some cat food.” Strange teased, and suddenly it was Loki in his arms, and there was no cat to be found.

Loki’s expression was priceless. “Uhhh…” He stammered, speechless.

“So you were very busy last night, were you?” Strange asked, completely unsurprised by this turn of events.

“Uhh… yes.”

“And what you were busy with was being a cat and taking a nap on my bed?”

“I… I… I needed to make sure I could trust you!” Loki sometimes lied quite badly, for the god of lies.

Dr Strange considered this for a moment, before deciding he actually didn’t mind the idea of having a pet cat, even if that pet cat was Loki.

“Well if you feel that way, then go ahead.” Strange said, finally setting Loki down.

“Really?” Loki asked, as even he was appalled by the unbelievability of his last lie.

“Sure.” Strange said. “I’ve got no problems with cats.”

“Oh.” Loki said. “So you would rather I hung around as a cat, then?”

Stephen shrugged and Loki bit his own lip.

“So…” Stephen asked. “Just how little do you have to do?”

Loki looked at him curiously.

“You know, as ruler of Earth?”

“Oh, that.” Loki said. “Actually there’s a fair bit involved. But it’s mostly paperwork. And it’s soooo boring! Seriously, I’m dying. I’m dying of boredom here! I mean, it even makes you seem like you’re interesting!”

Strange raised both his eyebrows at that last remark. “So why do you still want to keep ruling Earth then?”

Loki frowned. “I mean, if I gave up just because it was boring I would be proving everybody right.”

Strange’s expression dropped. Loki was being serious.

“Father, Mother, Thor, the People of Asgard…” He emphasised that last part as if to say, yes, all of them. “…None of them thought I was worthy. Or that I could ever be worthy. In their eyes I’m just a hopeless fool. I know that’s what they all see when they look at me, everybody does. I just don’t know why.”

“I never thought you were a fool.” Said Stephen. “I could tell from the moment I saw you just how brilliant you are. It’s why I agreed to the terms of your deal. Because even though you had this crazy expression on your face, I could see so much intelligence in those gorgeous green eyes of yours.”

Loki looked up at Strange with a bemused expression. “How crazy did I look?”

“Pretty crazy.”

“Do I look crazy at the moment?”

“You always look crazy, Green-eyes.” Strange said fondly.

Loki leaned forwards and kissed Stephen softly on the lips.

Stephen kissed him back and led him towards the bed.

“You sure you’re up for this, Strange.” Loki teased.

Stephen looked up into his eyes and smiled. “Yeah. I am.”

They both hurried to take off their clothes in between kisses.

Once they were both naked, Strange briefly hesitated. “I must admit that I don’t know exactly… what to do in this particular…” He stumbling over saying it, but he had never been with a man. He did know how it was done, like the basics of it, but that wasn’t the same as actually knowing what to do. He was afraid of hurting Loki.

“That’s alright.” Loki whispered into his ear. “I’ll take the lead.”

And with that Loki straddled him. Stephen teased Loki’s nipples as Loki palmed at Strange’s partial erection, coaxing it into full and upright position, before slowly lowering himself onto it.

Stephen swallowed hard as he felt Loki engulf him. Loki was ridiculously good at this. And then Loki began to move. He made that face again, grinning at Strange with sharp teeth and flushed cheeks, and then Strange thrust up into Loki. Loki threw his head back with a moan. Strange could still see the hickey he’d left on the side of Loki’s neck. He passed his thumb gently over it and then slowly guided Loki over for a kiss.

It didn’t take long before Strange reached his climax. Loki, however, wasn’t there yet. So when Stephen pulled out he leaned forwards and took Loki into his mouth.

Loki’s eyes widened with surprise at first, and then he settled into a grin.

He took Stephen’s hand and guided it towards his rear. Stephen felt a heat as his fingers approached Loki’s entrance. He nodded. He understood what he was supposed to do. He gently worked his fingers up into Loki as he continued to stroke and lick at Loki’s member.

When Loki reached his climax too, they both collapsed onto the bed.

This time Stephen definitely needed a shower. And a breath mint.

He gathered himself and stood up. “I need a shower… you coming?” He asked.

Loki nodded. “Yeah. Me too.”

As they stood there together under the running water, Strange felt himself slowly turning red.

“I could wash you if you’d like.” Loki offered.

“Ah, no! No, that’s alright.” At this point Stephen’s face was as red as a tomato.

Loki shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He said.

Strange splashed some water over his own face. He didn’t know why he was this embarrassed. He may as well have been nineteen again, and getting all nervous in the aftermath of his very first experience. He splashed himself again. He was thirty-nine for goodness sakes, far too old to-

“You’re bright red.” Loki interjected. “Are you feeling ok?”

“Uhh… yeah.” Stephen mumbled and cleared his throat.

Loki put a hand on Stephen’s forehead to check his temperature. “You feel pretty warm.”

“No, I’m fine. I just feel a bit strange is all.” Strange insisted.

“Is it the good kind of strange?”

Stephen looked up at Loki, at his concerned expression, and smiled. “Yeah. Yeah it is.”

He stepped forwards and kissed down Loki’s neck, before burying his face in the crook of his shoulder. They stayed like that for a while, until the beat of the warm water on their backs changed from a pleasant sensation to somewhat of an irritation.

Once they’d gotten dressed Stephen went back to his reading, and eventually a black cat with green eyes curled up on the desk and watched him. Well, he watched him for about four minutes before falling asleep and starting to snore in these loud rumbling purrs. For the first time, Stephen felt strangely content with his life exactly as it was.


	4. Loki dreams, in cat form

Stephen Strange ran down to the kitchen to get some toast, even though it was already past twelve and technically lunch. But in the kitchen, which was just past the dining room, a different chef than the one he’d met at dinner was ready and waiting. The chef wouldn’t let him touch anything in the kitchen. It felt weird asking this guy to make him toast.

He took the toast back to his room and ate it, then put his empty plate on top of the bookshelf and picked up his studying where he had left off. Loki was still asleep on the desk, in cat form. His eyes were half open and darting around in response to nothing. ‘Rem sleep’ Strange noted.

He didn’t raise his head from his books again until he heard an unexpected noise. Hissing? Was Loki hissing at him?

Loki was still asleep, but his face kept twitching, and he was indeed hissing.

The tip of his tail trembled back and forth in a slow but feeble lashing motion.

Strange raised an eyebrow and stood back to watch as Loki struggled on the desk in his sleep with some invisible foe. Strange saw his paws twitch and his claws pop out, and a strange garbled meow came from his mouth.

Stephen wanted to wake Loki up, but since he was certain he’d get at the very least clawed, and potentially stabbed, he didn’t.

Loki’s legs scrambled and spasmed across the desk in a sudden burst of movement, and then Loki was sitting up, eyes blinking furiously, desperately observing the real world. He stared up at Stephen for a moment, who was standing back nervously watching as he had been for the duration of the bad dream. Stephen could practically see what Loki was thinking. ‘Did he notice? Did he see?’

Stephen sat down again, and this time Loki curled up in his lap. He read his books with one hand and ran the other down Loki’s back.

He wondered what exactly Loki had been dreaming about, but he didn’t really want to ask that question of him either. Because if there were things out there that a god could fear, well, perhaps he didn’t want to know what they were.

For a brief moment he wondered if Loki was lying to him. That maybe he was telling him that all of this preparation was for a fight with his brother, but it was actually for a confrontation with something else entirely.

The truth was, that he still didn’t trust Loki. He was fascinated by him, he was attracted to him and he even felt this unexpected desire to protect him. But he didn’t trust him. Not for one second did he trust him.

He put down his book and lifted the cat up onto the desk. He turned around, intending to pace a few times up and down the corridor. He needed to move.

But in the corner of his eye, he saw that Loki had changed back from being a cat into his usual form, though he still lounged on the desk nonchalantly. He yawned.

Stephen turned around, cocking an eyebrow. “You’re going to mess up my notes, you know.”

Loki shrugged.

Stephen stepped forwards. “And you’re going to damage the books, some of them are really fragile.”

Loki clicked his fingers and everything else on the desk was instantly filed away. He smiled cheekily.

“But now what am I going to study?” Dr Strange said, with a hint of playfulness in his tone.

“You could always study me.” Loki said.

Dr Strange stepped forwards and kissed Loki. He took it slowly. Loki stood up and they continued their kissing.

Stephen tried to walk backwards as he did so (towards the bed), but the back of his knee hit the seat of his chair and he collapsed into it.

His shocked expression must have been hilarious, because Loki, who was left standing in his wake, burst into a fit of laughter. “My goodness, that’s new and refreshing! And to think I thought I’d seen it all! What a move!”

Strange felt his cheeks burn. He didn’t have a lot to say to that.

“But it does give me an idea…” Loki said flirtatiously, while transforming into a woman.

She straddled Stephen on the chair, and began to take off her coat. It fluttered to the floor as she tossed it aside. Next she unfastened her armour, and dropped it all with a musical tinkle.

She continued until she was completely naked. Strange watched her, slightly mesmerised by the striptease, slightly distracted by the notion that she’d likely done this before.

She positioned herself just above his lap, and began to move, lightly grazing over his crotch each time. Strange swallowed. He hadn’t exactly been to a strip club recently. (He’d gone a number of times during his first year of med school, and again in his first year of residency, but hadn’t been since.) But he did remember something about lap dances that stuck in his mind.

He watched Loki tease him, and he couldn’t help but wonder why. He could hear it in his head clear as day, as desperate and as hungry as every other girl who had echoed those same subtextual words. “I want you to like me. I want you to love me.”

But in the case of Loki, Stephen didn’t know what came next. With those girls at the strip club, it was always, “I want you to pay me.” With other girls it was sometimes, “I want you (the successful surgeon) to spoil me.” With one particular girl who he’d only dated for two months it was, “I want you to get me pregnant.” Which in the end was why he had only dated her for two months, because the moment he figured that one out he ran like hell.

But he had no idea what came next for Loki. What could possibly come next for Loki? Nothing that applied to the other girls, that’s for sure. Because Loki had more money than him, Loki had more power than him, Loki didn’t need to be spoiled, and he could say with fairly concrete certainty that Loki was not currently interested in having his babies. So what could it be?

“You’ve gone soft.” Loki muttered. “What’s wrong?”

Could it be, Strange wondered, “I don’t want you to discover my secret.” Or, “I want to keep you distracted and happy.” What if it was…

“I want you to make love to me.” Loki said, softly, honestly.

“Why?” Strange asked. It was a question that made him want to laugh at himself. Why? He could be having sex right now and he asks why? “I mean… why me? What makes me… worthy of being with you?”

Loki smiled. “I like that… worthy. Yes indeed, you are worthy of being with me, Doctor Stephen Strange.”

Strange looked up into her beautiful green eyes.

“You are quite clever for an originally mortal being. You’re tough and unshakeable. I imagine the world could crumble around you and you wouldn’t bat an eye.” Loki said. Then she chuckled. “And you’re rather handsome.”

Stephen smiled. That almost sounded like a love confession. Almost. But she was shamelessly, hopelessly wrong. His world had crumbled around him when he lost the use of his hands, and he had done more than bat an eye. He had crumbled with it. Still, as he listened to those pretty words he felt his distrust of Loki start to dissipate. He looked into those sweet green eyes and saw the love in them. And then he felt it too.

He reached up and kissed her deeply. He had fully recovered from his distraction. 

Strange steered Loki to the bed and laid her down. It was about time, he figured, that he really took the lead. He undressed himself as quickly as he could, leaving his clothes in rumpled piles across the floor, and leaned over her, running his hands gently over her warm body. He smoothed his thumb across the hardened tip of her nipple, and then leaned in and gently kissed it. He drew back and Loki was beet red.

“Embarrassed?” Strange asked. “You’re blushing like a virgin.”

“I… I don’t know!” Loki said in genuine bewilderment. “I-“

She moaned as Stephen’s hand wandered lower.

She spread her legs. “Enough of the foreplay already, I just want you inside me.”

Stephen complied, pleased with the way that Loki clung to him. He knew he wasn’t exactly a god at sex, he wasn’t going to blow Loki’s mind, or show her anything she hadn’t seen before (except for tripping over a chair while making out, apparently). But those arms around him held no illusions. They clung tightly to him as he thrust into her, and they didn’t let him go. He could feel her fingernails dig into his skin. He winced a little at their sharp little pricks, but otherwise he was much more interested in what was in front of him.

They lay there for a while afterwards, both a little tired. Or more likely, Strange a little tired and Loki particularly uninterested in doing paperwork while having nothing else to do.

“Hey.” Loki asked. “Can you tell me a little about when you were a surgeon?”

“Anything in particular?” Stephen asked.

“No.” Loki said. “Any tale you choose to tell would be fine.”


	5. Training

Strange supposed he knew this day would come, he had studied the theory to his heart’s content. He could probably recite a fair few of those books by now. But he needed to practice the practical application of the craft. Admittedly as a surgeon, he generally excelled in the practical as well as the theory… but to be honest he didn’t feel that they were remotely the same.

For one thing, practical learning in medical school did not generally involve this much danger. Not to the practitioner, anyways.

For another, this was not science. And it didn’t feel like science. It felt like he was a total loser when it didn’t work, and like he’d just taken acid when it did.

Although one thing which was kind of cool, and a little less trippy, was the ability to magically reinforce one’s own physical abilities. Things like strength, speed, agility… he had to admit he was looking forward to trying it out.

At least he was looking forward to it until Loki wandered in yawning.

“I finally caught up on that paperwork.” He said, with one hand scratching his hair. “This seriously isn’t what I thought world domination would look like.”

Strange ignored Loki, focused on trying to get this particular magic to work. It was especially difficult, because physical enhancement magic is done without words, gestures or talismans. He was having quite a bit of trouble wrapping his head around it.

“Anyways-“ Loki continued.

“I need absolute concentration here.” Strange muttered under his breath.

Loki rolled his eyes. “Alright, what’re you trying to do?”

When Stephen didn’t answer he sauntered over and whispered it right in his ear. “What are you trying to do?”

Stephen glared at Loki, but Loki just didn’t seem to notice it.

“I’m trying to figure out how to use physical enhancement and physical reinforcement magic.”

“That’s easy. I use it all the time.” Loki said.

Strange looked unimpressed.

“Goodness gracious, you’re over thinking it!” Loki said, and put a hand on Stephen’s upper arm. “I’ve already supplied you with the magic. So all you’ve got to do is feel fast, feel strong, feel nimble. Do you get it now?”

Strange cocked an eyebrow.

“Ehhh… It’s easier in practice.” Loki said. “Block my strikes.”

“Wha-“ Stephen started to say, before being knocked across the room and hitting the wall. He pulled himself up cautiously, and checked for any broken bones.

“See!” Loki said happily. “The durability kicks in automatically. Of course you’re not invincible so still be careful.” He warned. “One hit from Thor’s hammer and you’ll still feel it. For like a month. Goodness that’s a long and boring month.”

Stephen’s mouth twitched involuntarily into a smile at the image of Loki on bedrest. It was the absurdity of the image more than anything else, since he couldn’t imagine Loki damaging even a cuticle. He was a god, after all. And all he had seen of him so far held true to that image. Loki, he thought, was indestructible.

He strode back towards Loki, reinvigorated by his newfound durability, believing he could possibly block his strikes.

He failed over and over again, but he felt that his reaction time was gradually becoming quicker.

They practiced many different kinds of fighting techniques, but Stephen mainly focused on dodging and avoiding blows more than returning them, since he still figured that he stood no chance of inflicting damage on Thor with a punch.

Loki still showed him some basic offensive moves, which he practiced ad nauseam.

Strange found himself exhausted four hours in, which he had thought was ridiculously good, but Loki apparently found disappointing. So he supposed he had to build up his stamina as well, now.

They continued these practice sessions over the following weeks, and Strange started throwing in all sorts of magic which he had learned over those long study sessions. He used a 'throwing stuff at the wall to see what would stick' type of approach, and found that a fair amount of what he had learned could be useful in combat. It was all about how you applied it. He also found himself getting far quicker and more agile. He had to admit, it was kind of cool. His latest training session went for 7 hours, he still got tired at the end of it, but he felt that he really was becoming superhuman.

Loki, between the paperwork he had finally started to do, and the training he was now putting Strange through, had spent a lot less time with Stephen one on one. By which he meant, in the same intimate capacity in which he had previously spent time with him. And that didn’t just mean having sex. Loki didn’t lounge around and watch Stephen study, nor did he dance with him or dine with him. It… was lonely. The only thing that kept Stephen from worrying that Loki had grown tired of him, was that Loki (the cat) still crawled into his bed to sleep next to him at night, and every morning he woke up with Loki (the man) in his arms.

Dr Strange had to admit, that he was really beginning to miss constantly being with Loki. He also very much missed having sex with him as well. It had been almost a month now since they'd last touched each other.

He waited for Loki to wake up that morning, before leaning in and kissing him gently. Loki looked up at him and wordlessly responded, kissing him back.

“I swear, it’ll just be for a little longer.” Loki said, one hand lingering on Strange’s cheek.

Strange swallowed. “I can’t wait any longer. I have to be with you, right now.”

Loki looked deep into Stephen’s eyes. “I can’t wait any longer either.”

Their clothes vanished as Stephen leaned in and kissed him again, this time even more passionate. Lustful. He bucked his hips against Loki’s, feeling their quickly hardening members graze against each other.

He slipped a finger inside Loki. Then he slipped in two and began opening him up, getting him ready.

Loki moaned loudly and spurted across his own stomach.

“Oh! Sorry!” He gasped.

“Don’t worry about it.” Strange said as he removed his fingers. It seemed Loki had needed it even worse than he did. He was kind of excited to see this unusual side of Loki. Not the smooth, suave Loki he had first met, but the Loki who cums too early. It was strangely attractive.

Stephen took himself into his hand and finished himself off as quickly as he could, over Loki’s stomach.

“Why don’t we take the day?” Stephen asked. “Why don’t we take the day and just… be together… like we were before?”

Loki looked up at him and broke into a smile. “If it’s just for today… it surely couldn’t do any harm to take just one day off.” He traced a line with his finger down Stephen’s chin, down his neatly trimmed beard. Then he looked down at himself. “Now, I seem to be in desperate need a shower. If you'd like to join me?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Strange said.

He and Loki got into the shower together. Loki quickly washed away the mess, and then leaned in and kissed Stephen. He pulled back and his lips did a little quirk upwards into a self-satisfied smile. 

Strange could see the water droplets clinging like rain to Loki’s eyelashes and hair. He was so beautiful.

Stephen kissed Loki until he could hold it in no longer. He bent Loki over (luckily Loki’s palace bathroom ensuites had ridiculous amounts of room in the showers, so this wasn’t quite the challenge it would have been to do this in the shower in his old apartment), and pushed into him. Loki, hands resting against the glass, briefly turned his head to look up at him over his own shoulder, cheeks lightly flushed, and with the sort of cheeky grin that seemed to say ‘give it all you’ve got’.

Strange started thrusting. By now his body had developed a sort of rhythm with Loki’s. Whether Loki was male or female, they simply seemed to match each other perfectly in pace and intensity. Stephen supposed it was simply their natural compatibility, along with them getting used to the feel of each other. It felt so good to be with Loki. Once he could feel himself getting close, he reached forwards and stroked Loki’s manhood until they both came.

He pulled out and turned Loki around, moving forwards for one more passionate kiss. As they stood nose to nose Loki slipped his hand onto Stephen’s cheek and pulled him in for a slower, softer sort of kiss.

And that’s when Dr Stephen Strange heard the noises echoing across the palace. Thunderous noises.

“Shit!” Loki swore under his breath. "It's Thor!"


	6. Thor

The walls of the palace shook. Strange could hear the distant screams of men outside. He heard the crack of thunder. He looked over at Loki. “That’s him.” Loki said. He sounded nervous. They were already fully dressed and dried and out in the hall, Loki had used his magic.

“You go outside and engage him. I need you to keep him busy for ten minutes and then I’ll be able to come back you up.” Loki pleaded. “Ten minutes should be enough.” He said, but he looked uncertain.

Strange nodded gravely and turned around, transporting himself right to the source of the sounds.

“Halt!” He commanded, still as of yet unable to see anything but Thor’s silhouette through the dust and rubble of the now abandoned guard house. “Cease this mindless destruction, Thor.”

Thor stepped forwards. All at once, Strange saw him. And he noticed the colours he wore, red and silver. Could Loki… could Loki have been dressing him up to be a bit like Thor all this time?

Thor was wearing a miserable grimace. “Stand aside, mortal.” He threatened.

“I will not!” Strange said, and then flinched as the remnants of a brick wall next to him exploded. Thor held out his hand and the famed hammer came flying back to him.

“You will leave us alone! Or I will drive you off myself!” Dr Strange cried out.

“My brother truly is a bastard.” Thor hissed under his breath. “Sending his mortal plaything out to fight his battles, and with the gods no less!” He roared. “But I shall make your death quick as my atonement for my part in this.” He threw his hammer.

Dr Strange leapt from the ground, stepped upon Mjolner for the briefest moment, leapt into the air, summoned a dagger into his hand and sent it flying at Thor.

Thor’s eyes widened in surprise, as the handle of the dagger bounced off the skin of his bare arm.

Dr Strange landed on the ground. He had summoned another dagger, but he now looked rather uncertain about using it.

“You’re not mortal?” Thor asked, and picked up the dagger.

“Not lately.” Strange said, and Thor drew a sharp breath.

“He knows that is forbidden! Only Odin…”

“By whose grounds is it forbidden? Odin’s? Odin is not king here, Loki is!” Strange was angrier than he had expected to be.

“Loki has no right.”

“Loki has every right!” Stephen yelled. “He is our rightful ruler! He has every right!”

“My brother has had many playthings. He treats his lovers like tools, and throws them away when he no longer has use for them. Do you truly believe he cares for you?”

Strange dodged Thor’s hammer this time by turning into one mouse, amidst an illusion of a hundred mice. He ran behind Thor and changed back, at the same time dispelling his illusion.

He answered the question.

“Yes. I do believe he cares for me. Perhaps even the same way that he cares for you.”

“Then he will pick you apart and take from you everything that you love!” Thor roared as he turned around and swung his hammer, but before he could bring it down Loki was standing in his way, protecting Strange.

“I never loved anything else.” Strange said.

Thor hesitated in bringing his hammer down. Slowly he lowered it.

“And you Brother, do you truly care for him?” Thor asked Loki uncertainly. “Do you care for this pathetic man who loves nothing?”

Loki turned to Stephen and smiled. “He loves me. That’s not nothing.”

“You know that’s not what I meant, Brother.”

“Why should he need to love anything else?”

“Loki.” Thor said, shaking his head. “I cannot explain what you will never understand.”

“Why should he need to love anything else but me?” Loki roared jealously.

Thor dropped his hammer into the dirt.

“Last time I saw you like this, you cut off Lady Sif’s beautiful hair.”

Loki trembled with rage. “Shut your mouth, Brother! Or else I will shut it for you!”

“Your jealousy is worse than your hatred.”

Loki conjured a dagger and swiped at Thor in a blind rage, but Thor caught his wrist and squeezed until Loki dropped the blade.

They froze like that for a moment, before Thor pulled Loki into a warm embrace.

“I’ve missed you, Brother.” Thor said. “Asgard is not the same without you there.” Loki hugged Thor back without a word.

“Now, I would very much like it if you would show me around your palace.” Thor said cheerfully, as if the entire fight, and his entire vendetta had never existed.

Stephen was amazed that his month of intensive training had led only to a fifteen minute fight, but since it seemed unlikely that he was going to win he didn’t push the issue. Besides, he did successfully hold Thor off for fifteen minutes. He had achieved what he was supposed to as Loki’s protector. And he supposed that in and of itself was a quite impressive feat.

“Of course.” Loki said, as if he too had perfectly adjusted to the shift in tone.

“And while we’re at it, why don’t you tell me about yourself, Sir…”

“Doctor.” Corrected Strange. “Doctor Stephen Strange.”

“Oh, a doctor? And what kind of medicine do you practice, Doctor?”

“I was a surgeon.” Dr Strange explained.

“You were?” Thor asked.

“I got into a car crash which damaged my hands. They were so broken, that there was no way that I could have hoped to operate as a surgeon again.” As they walked Stephen reached over to slip his right hand into Loki’s left, and Loki took it and held it tightly.

“And how did you and my brother… you know… find each other?”

“Loki was kind enough to use his magic to heal me, so I stayed by his side. And we just sort of grew closer and closer over time.”

Thor made a rumbling noise in his throat, like he was considering a tough column in the week’s crossword. Strange had no illusions, he was certain what Thor was really mulling over was whether or not to crush him into paste.

They led Thor around Loki’s palace, showing him the various impressive rooms, the ballroom, the library, the dining room. Thor asked to see the room where Strange was staying, and Loki showed him despite Stephen’s concerns. Although Thor didn’t linger long in Stephen’s room because there probably wasn’t really much of interest there for him anyways.

Last, they took Thor to see the throne room. It was by far the grandest room in the palace. Also, it was a place that even Stephen hadn’t seen before.

The throne itself was the most beautiful chair that Strange had ever seen, in a strangely rustic sort of way. Dark black iron curled around a frame of old mahogany. But the throne was not truly the highlight of the throne room. That was the walls surrounding the room, and the roof above it. For it was all covered in a detailed mural. The roof depicted Asgard floating up amongst the clouds. And the walls were a tribute purely to Loki, depicting his graceful conquering of Earth, and his defeat of the Earth’s mightiest heroes, The Avengers.

Stephen took in the sight with wonder, his Loki was so beautiful and powerful and…

Loki stepped up and took his seat upon the throne. It was so natural that that was where he belonged.

Thor’s expression dropped as he took in the mural, and the sight of Loki on the throne.

His hammer slipped from his fingers once more, and cracked the marble flooring underneath it.

“By Odin’s name, Loki!” He cried, and clutched his head. “Do you have no respect for anyone? For anything at all but for yourself?”

Silence echoed throughout the chamber as Thor waited for a response, but there was none. Loki’s seat on the throne was answer enough.

“That you would so mock the deaths of these brave men and women, The Avengers! It hurts, Brother. It hurts me, personally.”

Loki smiled. But still he said nothing.

“If I offered you Asgard, Brother… then would you stop this? Would you tear this monument to destruction back down to rubble, and return to your rightful home?”

“I no longer want Asgard.” Loki said. “That’s your kingdom, Brother. You’ve spent my whole life making that quite clear. You and everyone else from that little relic of my past. I’ve moved on, found myself a new kingdom that’s quite happy to serve under me. You should be pleased. I will be standing in your way no longer.”

Loki's expression dipped into a frown and he spoke in a tone that was much quieter and much more serious. “Besides even if I did wish to return… I couldn't. Not now.”

Strange looked up at Loki questioningly. He wondered why he would say such a thing. Surely Loki always had a choice, after all who of anyone would be capable of impressing their will onto him?

“Please!” Thor cried. “The only reason why I don’t remove your head from your shoulders is because I care for you. My dear, sweet younger brother, who was always such a spirited child. What has happened to you? Why do you insist on tearing my heart into pieces?”

“Because the only reason why I don’t put you out of your misery right now is because I do not want to see you dead by my hand either. I too remember those days of youth, that sweet-faced child who I looked up to like the sun in the very sky. But I will not let go of fate and fortune simply because you ask me to.”

Thor fell to his knees. “I beg you, Brother! I beg you, Loki!” Strange could just about notice a tear making a passage down one of Thor’s cheeks. Thor’s hand reached out and gripped the handle of his hammer, but rather than a grip of combat, it looked more like that grasp of a desperate man for comfort upon the hand of a lover.

Loki stood from his throne. “Yes, that’s it. I do so like that pose you’re making.”

And all of a sudden, Thor turned to stone.

Stephen blinked. Thor was a stone statue kneeling before the throne, a single tear carved out on his face. An expression of absolute misery etched in permanence. In all honesty, he felt bad. For the first time since he had met Loki, he felt bad. He wouldn’t have thought himself even capable of feeling bad for this brute of a man until this very moment.

“Is he dead?” Strange asked. As he asked it he felt like a child.

“Dead?” Loki laughed. “Of course not. He is merely petrified. I may put him back to normal in a couple of hundred years or so and see if he hasn’t changed his tune.”

“How did you?”

“This is why I needed you to stall him. It was tricky magic, this. I spent months imbuing the magic into this floor, layering and shaping it to strike at my command.”

“He was going to leave you alone.” Stephen whispered.

“What was that?” Loki asked, his voice unimpressed.

“I said he was going to leave you alone.” Stephen said loudly. The sound rung across the throne room. “He’d given up. He wasn’t going to fight you anymore. Why did you have to do this to him? To reduce him to a mere statue kneeling before you… To do this to an already broken man!”

All at once Loki was in Stephen’s arms. “You were so recently mortal. There are things you do not understand.”

Strange shook his head. “No! You cannot tell me that this issue is subjective. Your actions were cruel. They were sadistic. I did not come to love you believing you could act this way!”

Suddenly Stephen felt himself being slammed into the floor. It took the wind out of him, and although he mentally reached for the powers he had used in his fight with Thor, he found himself grasping at something that was no longer there.

“I took my power back.” Loki hissed. “So there’s no use trying to use it against me.”

Strange looked into Loki’s eyes with horror. At that moment, there was only madness there.

But Loki’s expression softened as he knelt down. “Did you ever really love me?” He asked. “Or did you just love that one single side of me that I allowed you to see?”

Strange sat up and put his arms around Loki. “I do love you, Green-eyes. I never said I didn’t love you. I’m just…” He trailed off.

“…afraid.” Loki said.

“Yes!”

Loki’s eyes grew wide. He swallowed. “Are you saying that you’re afraid of me?”

Stephen Strange felt the magic course back into him. “Yes.” He admitted. “I am afraid of you. That’s what I was trying to tell you before. I love you, but you are fucking terrifying me right now.”

“I didn’t think you were afraid of anything.” Loki said.

“Why would you think that?”

“You, a mere human, turned up before me, the ruler of earth and a living god. You came to ask something of me. You were completely physically destroyed, and yet cool as a cucumber you asked me to put you back together… And then you let me play with your cucumber.” He laughed at his own little dirty joke. “You were the least fearful human being I’d ever met.”

He stroked a gentle hand through Strange’s hair.

“You know, it made me feel good being with someone who wasn’t afraid of anything. The only other person who ever made me feel that way before was Thor. He was always fearless too.”

“Well I’m not immune to fear.” Strange muttered, feeling a little concerned about the exact nature of Loki's relationship with his brother.

“Still, you are much braver than I am.” Loki chuckled.

Stephen leaned forwards. “What do you have to be afraid of?” He whispered.

Loki shut his eyes and bit his tongue. His eyelashes trembled. Strange felt a wave of desire pass through him, but he stubbornly ignored it. This was not the time for that.

“Everything.”


	7. Loki's Fear

All of a sudden the entire room shuddered. Loki stood up and turned to face his brother.

“No…” Loki whispered. “No… no… no… please do not do this. Don’t do this to me. No.”

A bolt of lightning struck through the window, shattering the glass into a thousand pieces and sending them skittering across the floor. Then lightning struck twice, this time striking the stone statue of Thor.

And once again before them stood Thor in the flesh. His eyes crackled with electricity. His hammer in his hand. Stephen felt his stomach drop at the terrifying sight of the god before him.

All at once Loki was standing before Thor with a sceptre. “You really should have stayed a statue, brother.” He said, and he pressed the sceptre against Thor’s forehead.

Thor cried out and fell to the ground, unconscious.

“What did you do?” Strange asked.

“The one thing I most wish I didn’t have to do.” Loki said. “I brought upon him a most terrible curse.”

“How did you curse him?”

“With knowledge. I showed him a glimpse of a fate that’s inescapable. A fate that is inevitable.” Loki shivered at the word. “My fate.”

“Show me.” Strange asked.

Loki put a gentle hand on Stephen’s cheek. “Please do not ask me such a thing.”

“Am I here to protect you or am I here to be protected by you?”

Loki pursed his lips. “I do not want to show you.”

“If I am going to stay by your side I am going to find out regardless. Isn’t it better that I learn now than later?” Strange insisted.

Loki bit his lip. He looked like he could cry. He lifted his sceptre slowly. “Please… don’t hate me for this.” He begged softly as he pressed the sceptre against Stephen’s forehead.

Then there was nothing.

Stephen saw only darkness, and then light slowly filtered into his vision, showing him several figures. One of them was Loki. Loki stood, bowed before a giant of a creature. No, this was not a man, although Stephen had no idea what this creature could actually be. In the strangest mixture of horror and awe he took in its purple skin and golden armour. Why was Loki bowing before it? Loki, at least the Loki he knew, bowed for no one.

“You are lucky I’ve given you another chance after your failure on Asgard.” The purple creature said.

Loki kept his head down. And he kept silent.

“This time I am giving you an easier target. Bring the Tesseract to me. Earth you can do what you like with.”

“Thank you, master.” Loki grovelled. Strange swallowed. He felt like he had a lump stuck in his throat that just wouldn’t go away. Who… who was this person who looked like Loki? Because this couldn’t be him. This was not a god. This was barely even a man.

“I shall even present you with a gift, to help you in your conquering. The creature gestured to one of his attendants, who carried over a sceptre. The same sceptre that Loki had used on Thor and now himself. The attendant gave the staff to Loki.

“I will collect it, along with the Tesseract, when the time comes.” The creature said.

Loki gripped the sceptre until his knuckles turned white.

“I trust you understand what will happen if you decide to keep it from me.” The creature said.

Loki bowed his head and nodded. “Yes. I… understand.”

“There is nowhere in this universe that you can run. There is nowhere that you can hide from me. I am inevitable.”

Loki shook a little under the creature’s gaze. “I understand, master.” His voice quavered.

The creature smiled. “I am not so sure that you do. Perhaps you need a little proof that I mean business. I will give you a taste of what awaits your betrayal.”

When Strange came to again Thor was standing alongside Loki, and they were already deep in conversation. Loki was sheened in sweat, but his grin was unshakeable. In Dr Stephen Strange’s honest medical opinion, he seemed a little manic. And that’s even when compared to Loki’s default disposition... which was already rather manic. “Thanos handed me the mind stone himself! I’ve conquered and won the Tesseract. That’s two. And I believe there may be one more on Earth. And if I can just find it… I can hurt him. I know that I can hurt him. I can make him hurt so badly he’ll wish he never looked down on me. Trying to control my mind, it simply cannot be done. I am a god of lies and deceit, I cannot be lied to, I cannot be deceived!” Loki took a second to breathe after crying out those last words, roughly panting in and out like an animal. “For him to think that he could use me like a tool. I will make him suffer! I bow for no one!”

Loki was full on screaming at this point, in quick, sharp bursts.

“Must it truly be you who fights against him?” Thor asked. “Can it not just be me?”

Loki ran a hand through his sweat soaked hair. “Did you not pay any attention to the vision I just showed you? If I do not strike he will track me down and do things to me that are a hell of a lot worse than death, I can tell you that.”

Thor opened his mouth to speak.

Loki stilled. He stopped his shaking for the first time since Strange opened his eyes again. Loki made eye contact with his brother, and he spoke quietly. “Listen, brother. For a moment there, just for a moment mind you, he had complete control over me.”

He shook his head. “It wasn’t long… I broke free quickly… but still. I cannot let anyone have such power over me again.”

“I guess now you know how your human playthings must feel.” Thor chided. “The ones you have controlled and manipulated just as the purple giant did to you.”

“I do not know what you are talking about, brother.” Loki said, looking over at Strange and meeting his eyes. “I know not what you speak of in the slightest.”


	8. The Shadow of the Mad Titan

Dr Strange approached Loki. He was still stunned from what he had seen, what he had learned over such a short time. Loki was afraid of something. Some creature known as Thanos. He had grovelled before him, bowed his head. He had even been controlled by him. All this time the immortal Loki had been living with the knowledge that soon his life would be a living hell. He wondered if their relationship was simply an outlet, in which Loki could forget this inevitable future. After all, what could someone like Loki want from someone like him? As he moved towards Loki, almost on instinct, he had no idea what he was going to do. He had no idea what he was going to say to him.

Loki was surprised when Stephen kneeled before him and bowed his head. “I will always be your servant.” He said. “If this Thanos wishes to do you harm then I shall fight him to the very end. You have my word.”

Strange was taken by surprise when Loki knelt down and put his arms around him, right there on the floor.

Loki let out a choking, gasping sob and held onto Stephen tightly. Desperately. As if his very life depended on it.

Thor turned around and pretended to observe something or other out of the broken window. He cleared his throat awkwardly after a while. “So… Loki. Do you happen to have any idea where on Earth that other stone might be?”

“Uh… yes, well. That’s… complicated.” Loki muttered in response.

“Complicated how?” Thor asked.

“When I tried to get it myself, let’s just say I ran into a fair bit of trouble with this… band of mortal magic users. Amateurs, really. Children playing with forces such as they do not understand.”

“And yet you could not defeat them?” Thor asked. Strange bristled to hear the snide remark aimed at Loki.

Loki let go of Stephen. “Well… as it turned out… defeating them would be inconsequential. I had a little chat with the head of the order and she was kind enough to tell me that the Time Stone’s next rightful owner was…” Loki hesitated before saying the next part. “Dr Stephen Strange.”

“Me?” Strange asked aghast. “But I’ve never even heard of the Time Stone until today.”

Loki took a deep breath and rolled his eyes. “Well you don’t own it yet, do you? I fixed you, then I gave you powers and trained you up so I could save you some time and you’d be able to get ahold of it a little sooner. But it was always in your future. I just intercepted that future a little bit.”

“Your impatience could have cost him that future.” Thor scolded.

Loki scrunched up his nose. “It’ll be fine. Just you watch, he’ll walk right into this place and they’ll hand the thing over. Without me it would have taken him years to earn that thing. And he might not have given it to me anyways.“

“I’m sorry, you’ve lost me.” Strange said, rather confused. “What’re you talking about?”

Loki pursed his lips. “I might’ve influenced your destiny a little bit in my favour, and I most definitely stepped on some toes at a place called Kamar-taj. They’re this silly little band of human magic users who watch over the Time Stone. They might have staked their claim in you, before I took you in and taught you magic. I believe that they were supposed to be the ones to do that.”

“Right… and what does that have to do with…”

“Well they were going to give you the Time Stone. I think they probably still are going to give you the Time Stone. Probably. But if you aren’t able to get it I’ll likely perish at the hands of Thanos.” Loki said, casually.

“Then I’ll go and get it. I’ll do it now.” Strange said. He’d do anything to protect Loki. Anything.

Stephen looked over at Thor, then back at Loki. “But only if you agree to go with me.” He added.

“Well they weren’t… particularly keen on me the last time I visited.” Loki said.

“You make a pretty convincing cat.” Strange said. “Besides. I’ll protect you if need be.”

Loki dipped his head in defeat. He really must have needed the Time Stone.

“Will you help us, brother?” Loki asked Thor, uncertainly.

Thor’s expression was grave. “I will.” He said.

“Then please watch over the palace until I get back.” Loki asked.

Thor grunted and gave a little nod. Stephen rather feared that when they returned their home might just be rubble. He didn't trust Thor.

“Be safe, brother.” Thor said.

Loki looked serious. “I will.” But as he turned back to Stephen, Stephen could have sworn he saw Loki break into a smile.

“One thing before we go. When we get there, ask to speak to the Ancient One. And don’t mention me.” Loki said.

And then he clicked his fingers.

Dr Strange was standing in a foreign country, and next to him was a cat. The cat looked up at him, and then looked over in a particular direction, as though it was pointing. Stephen made sure to pick up Loki, to save him the trouble of making the entire hike in cat form. He wondered if there was a reason that Loki wasn’t able to bring them closer to the temple than this with his magic.

Loki directed him a long distance, and eventually Strange arrived at a door. Loki nodded and then curled up in Stephen’s arms, hiding his face. Stephen smirked. They must have given Loki much more trouble than he’d let on.

He knocked and the door opened.

“Doctor Strange? We were not expecting to see you so soon.” The man who answered the door seemed to know him.

“I would like to speak to the Ancient One. It’s important.” Strange said patiently.

The man gave him a suspicious look, but acquiesced.

As Strange followed him into the temple he was amazed by the things that he saw. There were what appeared to be magical artefacts lining the walls and kept in display cabinets all over the place. He believed that he might even be able to name some of them in particular as he believed that he had read about a number of them in Loki's books. He could feel a presence when he walked in, some sort of powerful magic rippling through the very air. Sensing magic, at least sensing magic that was not either Loki’s or his own, was a very new experience for him. It was less powerful than theirs, that he could tell, but there was a certain subtlety to it that he suspected could be dangerous.

The man knocked on a door. “I will go in first.” He said, opening it and closing it carefully behind him, not allowing Strange to get a look inside.

As the door opened Strange felt a wave of much more powerful magic spill into the air. Loki’s fur bristled. When the door closed again Loki lifted his head and looked up into Stephen’s eyes. So that must be the time stone, Stephen guessed.

The door opened again and Loki hid his face quickly. “You may enter now.” The man said.

Stephen made his way into the room, and knelt before the Ancient One.

“Dr Stephen Strange.” She said. “I wasn’t expecting you so early. You’re looking well.”

“Hi.” He said, feeling rather awkward.

“Please. Sit.”

He sat cross legged on the floor. “I have to ask you something, something that may seem odd.” He said.

“Ask away.”

“I have to ask you to give me the Time Stone.” Stephen said. “I understand that I may need to earn it or I may need to prove myself. And I am willing to do that. But I do… need it.”

“So I tell you that the Time Stone belongs to my star pupil, and you steal my star pupil instead. I suppose I should have expected that. Especially from you.”

Stephen blinked in confusion. She wasn’t talking… to him now, was she?

“Feel free to reveal yourself, I already knew it was you. You’re a tad more powerful than your average familiar, you know?”

Loki turned around and hissed at her, baring his fangs.

“Well that’s just petty.” Strange said to Loki, putting him down in his lap and scratching behind his ears. “What does that accomplish?”

Loki turned back into a man, and briefly turned his head to glare at Strange. “Don’t you start with me, now!”

“Well we’re coming to ask for something, we should at least try to be polite.”

Loki ignored Stephen’s last comment, turned back to the Ancient One and crossed his arms.

Stephen’s legs were already falling asleep because Loki was still sitting on them.

“Well?” Loki asked impatiently. “Is he worthy or isn’t he?”

“He is still worthy. But he will need some training.”

“Oh, I already trained him up for you.”

“He will need to go through our training.”

“But I said I already-”

“There are disciplines that he cannot learn from you. A prime example of which being patience.”

“I have plenty of patience. Do you know how long I’ve spent imprisoned?” Loki asked.

“Time spent imprisoned is not an example of practicing patience.”

“It is if you could leave whenever you want.”

“You’re not going to argue your way out of this one, Loki.” The Ancient One said. “Your lover is just going to have to stay here and learn something from someone other than you.”

Loki narrowed his eyes. “How the hell did you know that?”

“That he was your lover? Because you’ve spent this whole conversation sitting in his lap. And he hasn’t complained once, even though his legs are clearly both asleep.” She raised her eyebrows. “You know, not all insight comes from magic. Sometimes you can figure things out just through common sense.”

Loki made a face like he’d eaten a lemon. Stephen wanted quite badly to laugh at it. It was really very cute.

“I would like you to stay here as well, Loki.” She said.

Loki’s expression became suspicious. “Why?”

“Because if my future Sorcerer Supreme is going to be under your control, then it is your character that I should be assessing as well.”

“I help him only because I choose to. I’m not under his control.” Strange said. “If he wished to use my power for something I felt strongly against, I would hardly comply.”

“Like I said before, not everything is magical. Many people in this world have been controlled and manipulated by love. I believe that no one is immune to that.”

Stephen Strange stared at her. He had this horrible feeling settling in his stomach. He wanted to tell her that she was wrong, but he was not naïve. He knew that she was not wrong.

She nodded to him. “As long as you understand, that is enough.” She said. He felt as though she was responding directly to his thoughts.

Loki also stared at her. The thoughts behind his eyes were bubbling and venomous, and the strongest thought out of all of them was ‘You bitch!’

Stephen noticed Loki’s murderous glare, and put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. Loki turned to him, and his gaze softened into something sad.

“It’s all right, Loki. She wasn’t accusing you of anything.” Strange said. “Were you?” He turned to the Ancient One.

She smiled. “Of course not. It takes a great deal of faith in you already, Loki, just to allow you to be here. Especially when you realise that you are the only being here whose future I cannot foresee. I suspect that’s one of the many side effects of being you. Not just a god but a god of chaos, of unpredictability and of lies. Everything you touch turns cloudy.” She chuckled gently. “You’re making things so difficult for me.”

“Wait… if you can see the future…” Dr Strange started excitedly.

“I can see many futures, Stephen Strange. But I do not know which of them will come to be.”

Loki stood up and stretched. “I will co-operate with your requests. For now.” He said coldly. “Now where’s our room.”

“I will have Kaecilius show you to your room.” She said, closing her eyes as if in meditation. Then she opened one eye again and looked at Stephen. “It’s a such a pity that you already know about magic, I had quite a show prepared for your arrival. It would have been fun.” Then she closed it again.

Stephen couldn’t help but smile. To be honest, Loki and the Ancient One were not so different from each other at times like these. But he couldn’t help but think it would be a bad idea to point that out to either of them.

The man from earlier, Kaecilius, did indeed show them to their room. He looked incredibly displeased. Strangely moreso about Stephen’s presence than Loki’s. Well, at least until Loki teleported across the room and tried to touch some old artefact on a pedestal. Stephen thought Kaecilius was going to burst a blood vessel when Loki did that.

“The Ancient One has given me some special rules for you Loki.” He spat angrily.

“Rule number one: Loki does not touch the artefacts!”

“Oops.” Loki said dryly, eyes darting around the room for something else that might be interesting to touch.

“Rule number two: Loki does not enter any of the private rooms, with the exception of the one he shares with Strange.”

“What kinds of private rooms are we talking about?” Loki asked.

Kaecilius ignored Loki’s question. “Rule number three: Once Loki leaves here, he leaves for good. And with nothing stowed away in his pockets, dimensional or otherwise.”

Loki’s eyes widened. “Wait! But what if there’s an emergency? Or what if Stephen decides to stay here like the rest of you?”

“Well, then you’d better hope that there isn’t. And that he doesn’t.” Kaecilius said. “There’s your room.” He gestures at a door. “Enjoy.” He says, and briskly walks away. He was clearly glad to be rid of both of them.

Loki stared at the retreating Kaecilius as if he couldn’t believe anyone would treat him like that, and then glanced over at Strange and shot him a look.

“It’ll be fine. If you leave, I’ll leave. No matter what.” Strange said.

“But you can’t leave without the time stone.” Loki whispered. “If you do then this was all pointless.”

“Then I’ll come back to you as soon as I get it. I promise.”

There was a moment of silence between them as Strange opened the door.

As soon as Loki saw what was on the other side, he scrunched up his nose dramatically. “Oh you have got to be kidding me!” He exclaimed.

The room was tiny and dingy and brown. It had two single cot beds, a small wooden wardrobe, and a tiny window. That was pretty much it.

“I’ve stayed in better prisons.” Loki said. Strange believed that, quite easily.

“And did you see the rest of this place?” Loki exclaimed. “It’s not completely awful, so why is our room in particular so… peasant-y. I’m the ruler of the freaking world, you’d think they could do a little better than this.”

Stephen couldn’t help his dislike of it either. Even before he’d lived in Loki’s palace, he was a successful New-York surgeon with a rather nice New-York apartment. This was, to put it plainly, an enormous downgrade.

“Mmmm.” Strange ended up responding after thinking on it a while. “It’s not great, is it?”

He could almost see the lightbulb appear above Loki’s head. “I suppose I could always fix it up a little.” He said, innocently, eyeing the space.

Loki went to the wardrobe and placed his hand against the dull, cheap wood.

“Did you do something? I don’t see anything.” Stephen said.

“That’s because you’re not supposed to.” Loki said, pushing open the wardrobe doors to reveal and rather delightful (and much more spacious) bedroom inside of it. “I don’t want to be rude to our hosts, after all.”

“Is that a-“

“A pocket dimension? Yes it is. I find that they’re really rather useful.” Loki exclaimed cheerfully. Strange realised that Loki was showing off for him, and that felt pretty good. “The only downside is that you can’t have windows.” Loki added. “I mean you can, but it wouldn’t be a good idea. You don't always want to see what's out there.”

Stephen stepped into the wardrobe, and immediately felt particularly pleased with the king sized bed.

“I also added a bathroom ensuite.” Loki mentioned offhandedly as he climbed in through the wardrobe after Stephen.

“You’re brilliant. You know that?” Strange asked.

Loki flushed and he looked into Stephen’s eyes as if he was considering something. “I love you.” He said.

A moment passed in perfect silence, before Loki looked away. “I just thought you should know that, just in case-“

“I love you, Loki.” Stephen said, cutting Loki off.

Loki’s gaze snapped back to meet Stephen’s. His lips parted softly in surprise and then his eyes crinkled in a heavy-lidded smile.

Dr Strange stepped forwards and kissed Loki. It was slow and soft and felt like it lasted forever.

They steered each other towards the bed, as their kisses grew more passionate. Loki sat Stephen down on the bed, climbing on top of him and instantly vanishing their clothes.

Stephen kissed down Loki’s neck, his collarbone, his chest as he slipped his fingers into Loki’s entrance.

Loki moaned gently and stroked Stephen’s quickly hardening member with his hand.

Loki didn’t need much preparation before Strange was able to thrust into him. He was so beautiful at that moment, his cheeks were flushed, his green-eyed gaze was lustful. But his expression was a tiny bit concerned.

Strange felt Loki’s lips against his ear, and between ragged breaths he whispered “I think, I’m losing myself in you.”

Strange felt himself get a little bit bigger as a wave of even greater arousal flooded him.

Loki cried out suddenly in pleasure and then quickly slapped a hand over his own mouth.

Strange eyed the open wardrobe doors, and then reached out a hand, and pulled them shut with his own magic.

Loki dropped his hand from his mouth. “Thanks.” He gasped. “And well done.” He added.

He cried out again as Stephen took him by the hips and thrust into him. Then he leaned into a passionate kiss.

Loki came after a few more energetic thrusts and Strange came shortly after that. Then Loki collapsed on top of him with a loudly satisfied sigh.

**Author's Note:**

> If you like what I do here you can follow me on twitter @Writer_Monster or on my tumblr where I’m writer-monster


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